Do you remember Potluck Dinners?

Do you remember Potluck dinners? I can’t even begin to count the number of Church potluck dinners I have attended. I have attended some churches where there were some fantastic cooks. I always paid particular attention to what THOSE WOMEN made. Back in the day, you would bring out your best dishes, those family specialties, to share with your church family. It was always quite the feast for the church. 

Now, shifting gears for a minute!

I am reading a book right now called “Faith for the Curious” by Mark Matlock. I heard Mark and David Kinneman on a Carey Nieuwhof Leadership  podcast and I just had to get his book. On this podcast (link below) I was floored by the statistic that 99% of Pastors say their church is not effective doing evangelism. While 72% of people in the United States are open Spiritually. People are curious about God and about spiritual things in general. Stephanie and I are finding so many people curious, filled with questions, and wanting to understand the faith that I hold so dear to my heart!  When Jesus says the harvest is great and the workers are few, he was talking about today, February 2nd, 2025!

Ok, I am going to make my point in a minute, but read this scripture:

“Then he turned to his host, ‘When you put on a luncheon or a banquet,’ he said, ‘don’t invite your friends, brothers, relatives, and rich neighbors. For they will invite you back, and that will be your only reward. Instead, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. Then at the resurrection of the righteous, God will reward you for inviting those who could not repay you.’” (Luke 14:12-14)

I could preach this! LOL! I didn’t realize it then as much as I do today, Jesus was talking about potluck dinners! Think about it! Who did we invite to those dinners? We invited church members, friends, and family. (I don’t remember inviting any rich people!) Who should we have invited? We should have invited people who need the presence of Jesus in their lives. We should have invited the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, the lonely, the homeless, the widow, or the orphan, to name a few. We were so focused on our own faith family, we didn’t think about inviting those outside that family to experience Jesus.

99% of us are not going out and inviting people to the table of Jesus Christ. We are hoarding the love, the peace, the mercy, the grace, the forgiveness, the joy that comes from a relationship with Jesus Christ. AND, people are hungry! Yes, they are spiritually curious, hungry for something missing in their lives. We are at a pivotal time in history, Jesus will return soon. The time is urgently upon us and we need to GO into all the world and invite someone to the greatest POTLUCK of all time!